Bondi isn’t off the hook yet for Epstein testimony

Pam Bondi is out as attorney general, but she might still be in the hot seat with Congress.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer issued a subpoena for Bondi’s testimony last month following a bipartisan vote to compel her deposition for the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Immediately following her firing Thursday by President Donald Trump, members of the committee said they still wanted to hear from her, and Comer did not rule it out.

“Since Pam Bondi is no longer Attorney General, Chairman Comer will speak with Republican members and the Department of Justice about the status of the deposition subpoena and confer on next steps,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement.

The pressure could keep building on Comer to force Bondi’s testimony or hold her in contempt of Congress if she refuses to comply — and it isn’t coming only from Democrats. The vote to subpoena Bondi was shepherded by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who was joined by four other Republican lawmakers and all Oversight Democrats present. After news of the attorney general’s firing, Mace posted a dramatic image of Bondi’s face superimposed on the word “FIRED.”

“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and seriously undermined President Trump,” Mace said in her social media post. “She has stonewalled every effort to hold the guilty accountable.”

Trump in a Truth Social post Thursday called Bondi a “Great American Patriot and a loyal friend” but did not give a reason for her departure.

The ongoing calls for Bondi’s sworn testimony underscores the extent to which she has become the administration’s fall person for the seemingly endless Epstein saga.

Trump’s own relationship with the financier has prompted a host of questions about whether he knew of Epstein’s illegal conduct. And while the president has maintained the two had a falling out years ago and he hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing, Democrats allege that his administration is engaging in a cover-up — with Bondi central to that effort.

“She has weaponized the Department of Justice to protect Donald Trump and put survivors in harm’s way by exposing their identities,” said ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) in a statement Thursday. “She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath.”

POLITICO reported nearly a month ago that Bondi was in trouble with congressional Republicans over her handling of the federal Epstein inquiry. The Oversight Committee vote to subpoena the attorney general followed a shaky appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. That same week, Trump fired then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after her fraught back-to-back performances in front of key House and Senate panels.

“I just think it’s time to get some answers,” said Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who was among the Republicans who voted with Mace to approve a subpoena for Bondi. “She’s in the batter’s box. I’d say … let her hit.”

The exact timing of Bondi’s departure from government service is unclear. In a statement on social media Thursday afternoon, she said she would be working to hand over her duties to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over the next month. Blanche has been tapped to serve as acting attorney general until a full-time replacement is confirmed.

In the event that Bondi does appear before the committee in her capacity as a private individual, she would likely have to foot her own legal bills. Those who testify on the Hill about previous government service generally have to pay for their representation — including, for example, some of the former federal officials who testified in front of the Democratic-led select committee to investigate the Capitol attacks on Jan. 6, 2021.

A DOJ spokesperson did not respond to an immediate request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Democrats on the Oversight Committee aren’t likely to be sympathetic to Bondi’s plight.

Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) said in a statement that Bondi had “repeatedly and flagrantly violated the law and abused her position” and “must comply with the subpoena we issued and appear before our committee.”

Among some in the GOP, Bondi bears the blame for the fallout of the Epstein drama that has consumed Washington for over a year now.

In February 2025, Bondi promised to usher in a new era of transparency in the Epstein matter, but unveiled no new information. Five months later, the Justice Department in an unsigned memo announced it would not be releasing any further materials in the federal government’s investigation into the convicted sex offender. That decision drew outrage from Trump’s base, which has for years been clamoring for an Epstein “client list” that could include a vast web of powerful, wealthy men.

It launched a lengthy campaign to force the DOJ to fully release materials in the Epstein case, culminating in passage of a bill led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to make materials in the department’s possession publicly available.

As Republicans were locked in an impasse over whether to advance the bill, House Oversight absorbed the desire from members in both parties to keep demanding accountability over the stalled federal Epstein case. An Oversight subcommittee voted during an unrelated hearing to subpoena the DOJ’s Epstein files, which opened the floodgates for even more subpoenas — of everyone from the executors of Epstein’s estate to individuals in Epstein’s or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s orbit.

This has continued even after Congress finally passed the Massie-Khanna legislation which, in turn, led to the committee’s direct targeting of Bondi. She has been scrutinized anew in recent months for overseeing a delayed and haphazard release of the Epstein files, with critics saying the DOJ has been in flagrant noncompliance with that very bill.

In an apparent effort to neutralize the bipartisan push to compel her sworn testimony, Bondi voluntarily came to Capitol Hill last month to brief Oversight Committee members on her Department’s work around the Epstein case. She did not indicate during that closed-door meeting whether she would cooperate with the subpoena, according to Democrats in attendance.

Democrats at one point stormed out of the private briefing, saying it appeared to be an effort by Bondi to avoid testifying under oath. In wake of her termination, Khanna said in a statement she still had to answer for the lack of additional prosecutions in the Epstein case.

Only one person has been convicted on federal charges so far as part of Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme: Maxwell, his former girlfriend and associate. Under Bondi’s leadership, Maxwell was moved to a lower security prison camp in Texas after she sat for an interview with Blanche — a decision that drew questions around why she was moved to a facility perceived as less harsh. Maxwell has said she would cooperate in the congressional Epstein probes if she is granted clemency by Trump.

Lawmakers will almost certainly ask Bondi about this dynamic, if given the chance.

“Firing her does not end this,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of Oversight, in a statement. “Her removal only increases the urgency for the Oversight Committee to fulfill its oversight obligations.”